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I mostly don’t touch recruiting here, but when said recruit is the cousin of actress (or “actress”?) Lindsay Lohan, I’ll make an exception.

6’5″ Kevin Lohan currently plays for Merritt in the BCHL, and at 6’5″ his best tool is his size. He has 14 points, including two game winning goals, in 40 games for the Centennials this year. He’s also played from coast to coast over the last three seasons, playing for Shattuck two years ago and then New York Apple Core (EJHL) before joining the BCHL this year.

Lohan is a ’93 so he has another year of junior eligibility remaining, and in a phone interview with the Michigan Daily he said he was unsure whether he would join Michigan in 2013 or 2014.

For the record, Red Berenson has apparently heard of Lindsay Lohan, but would not be able to recognize her. Though to be fair, everyone who saw her in Mean Girls would say the same thing if they saw her now.

For those who were wondering, Red Berenson has heard of Lindsay Lohan. Wouldn’t recognize her though.

As reported by USCHO, the newfangled WCHA will be admitting Alabama-Huntsville for the 2013-14 season. Without the invite, the program would have been in danger of extinction after the dissolving of College Hockey America.

The Chargers are currently an independent and have already wrapped up their home schedule, a schedule which featured only two games against a D1 opponent (future WCHA foe Minnesota State) with the rest coming against club teams and D3 programs.

This brings the new look WCHA to 10 teams, and it will be interesting to see what happens with any future expansion not featuring a Big 10 team. The biggest immediate problem, though, will be travel. Huntsville is around 4,000 miles from Anchorage, and it is a little over 1,000 from Bemidji,the site of its biggest rival.

Still, this is a great day for college hockey, as realignment threatened to take away college hockey’s most successful foray into the south. Hopefully with Huntsville’s admission into the WCHA more southern programs will make the jump from club hockey to D1.

Fan voting for the Hobey Baker Award begins today, and as has been a theme for the past couple of seasons, there are a lot of players who are in the running for the award, but it has narrowed to a handful of candidates. The following list is my list of the top five candidates for the award, in the order in which I think they deserve it, not how I think the award voting would look if it were done today.

1. Johnny Gaudreau, F, Boston College

Gaudreau had one of the best WJC tournaments ever for an American forward, leading the tournament with 7 goals. He also, despite missing a few games due to the aforementioned WJC, is just one behind the national leaders in goals scored in college hockey this year. Because he has missed those games, he leads the nation in goals per game with .79. Gaudreau’s best assets are his ability with the puck and his hockey sense, and both have been on display this season.

2. Corban Knight, F, North Dakota

After being overshadowed for the past couple of seasons, Knight has dominated this year. He has 10 goals and is third in the nation in points per game. He currently has a 15 game point streak, and he’s getting it done elsewhere on the ice as well: he’s one of the best face off men in the country, winning 60.2% of his draws, which is on pace to break his own school record.

3. Ryan Walters, F, Nebraska-Omaha

I don’t look at win-loss record when filling out Hobey rankings, but it’s tough not to notice that Omaha is currently in first place in the WCHA. Walters has been a big part of that, leading the country with 13 goals (though it has taken him 22 games, putting him off the pace in terms of goals per game). He’s uh drafted, but has an outside shot at doubling his career high for goals in a season and has Omaha playing some of their best hockey since Dean Blais got there.

4. Joey LaLeggia, D, Denver

There isn’t a standout defender this year, but LaLeggia has been impressive again coming off a standout freshman season. He should approach the 38 points he had last year, and with 7 goals already this year it seems to be a lock that he will top the 11 goals he had last season.

LaLeggia still has some work to do in terms of his pro prospects because he is pretty undersized for that level, but because of his puck moving and passing skills as well as his skating he’s mastered the college game and is one of the best defensemen in the country.

5. Brett Gensler, F, Bentley

Every year sees someone from outside the big conferences get a Hobey nod, and so far that guy is Gensler. He has scored 11 goals on the year and leads the country scoring 1.71 points per game. Bentley is just 6th in Atlantic Hockey, but if Gensler keeps this up I don’t see how it’s possible to keep the nation’s leading scorer off the ballot, even when considering the level of competition. Especially when considering how much Atlantic Hockey has improved over the past couple of seasons.